Definitely check out this Slate article on SUVs and the 3-ton truck standards. According to the article, large SUVs, in excess of 6,000 pounds, are technically banned from many local streets. The article focuses on California, but it resonates elsewhere as well.
This gets at how I’ve come to think of SUVs recently: the really big ones are heavy trucks, so they should be regulated as such, and the small to mid-sized ones are really just passenger cards, so they should be regulated in that model.
I have no knee-jerk disgust for SUVs or Pickup trucks, I just ask that they be regulated according to sane, logical, and conistent rules.
It’s possible to have it both ways, in fact. I myself drive a Toyota Rav4, which I love for weekend outings in Washington’s Cascade Mountains, but which also gets consistently high fuel economy ratings. It even beats out the Subaru Outback, the preferred vehicle of the SUV-hating all-organic set.
The Outback, incidentally, is now classified as a light truck in 2005, so wipe that self-congradulatory smirk off your face, hippie boy! It just goes to show how screwy and illogical these rules have become.
Now Playing: Episode 349
Troops needed in Afghanistan end up in Iraq, Obama punts on the FISA bill, and finally: the Supremes rule on the 2nd amendment.
Links Mentioned: The hunt for Bin Laden … the new Army Iraq report … the FISA bill … the Prof references Chinua Achebe and The Lives of Others … the Genarlow Wilson aftermath.
